[swansjr]

Day 40
July 24, 2009

One trade. One winner.

The EC market broke it's multi-day range to the downside overnight. But it was a fake as it strongly reversed upwards. I awoke and did a quick scalp before calling it a day. I'm off work today and was not even going to trade. But I gave it an hour and a nice pullback on the 445 tick chart allowed me to enter long.

Below is the attached video of today's trade:

Live_Trade_2009-07-24_0605.swf

Below is the screen shot of today's trade. Notice my entry signal is on my larger timeframe (445 tick).



P&L: $100

[Mickey Caine]

Thought I might join you.

Only took one trade on the Euro today. Shorted a gravestone after a 50% retrace. Took 5 ticks on one contract and one tick on the other. Not great, but that entry did not offer a lot more.

[gcgecko]

What software needs to be downloaded to run these video files with .swf extension. I click on them but my computer tells me I don't have the proper player software to run them. Please tell me what site I need to visit to find the software download. Thanks.

[swansjr]

Originally Posted by gcgecko »

What software needs to be downloaded to run these video files with .swf extension. I click on them but my computer tells me I don't have the proper player software to run them. Please tell me what site I need to visit to find the software download. Thanks.

It's an Adobe's Flash file. If you have this application installed on your browser you can simply download the file to you computer, open a new browser window and select file->open. At least that's how I can get it to play. It works well with firefox.

[daedalus]

Awesome thread swansjr!!! Very rarely do we see anyone "show their cards" in so much detail and back it up with proof in videos/pictures, etc.

Keep it up!!!

[swansjr]

Originally Posted by daedalus »

Awesome thread swansjr!!! Very rarely do we see anyone "show their cards" in so much detail and back it up with proof in videos/pictures, etc.

Keep it up!!!

Well thanks much. Happy to hear you are enjoying the thread.

[swansjr]

I've been getting sloppy with my trading discipline. It all started with the fading volatility over the summer. The EC market was just not trending much in the early morning. Then the kids are home which means, early morning soccer practice which distracts me from my screen time. I then got lazy about posting here at TL. Then lazy about practicing my trading on historical data. Next was laziness about video recording my trades…and so on…

Well, time to get back on the horse. I need to bring back my focus and discipline.

I've not been trading over the past few weeks since I don't feel confident. I'll first need to practice on historical data and reviewing my setups. During this hiatus from day trading I've also been reading "Reading Price Charts Bar by Bar" by Al Brooks. It's a difficult read but full of great information. It's defiantly not a book for beginners however, if you are interested in day trading I would recommend it. I've not completed the book and Al recommends to only study small chucks of his work at a time. Take it slow, in other words. What's interesting are some of the price patterns he points out on the ES market (which is his primary market to trade) can also be seen on my EC charts. This is of no surprise but it is my hope that a merger of these two trading styles may be of help to me.

At times the Watts system gives me too much info. There are many indicators on the screen and I find I'm looking at two or three time frames. This causes second guessing of signals. Brook's strictly uses one time frame and identifies excellent patterns based largely on trend lines. Again, my hope is I can simplify my trading by using a handful of Brook's concepts in addition to a single EC chart with the Watts signals. Brooks price action explains a lot more of what I'm seeing and as potential Brook's patterns play out, Watts create wonderful entry signals. In a very crude summary this is how I picture it: Watts nails down great entries while Brooks paints a bigger picture, locates key trading points and explains the "why". At least, that's how it looks now in hindsight.

To some it may sound like I'm still looking for the holy grail. I'm not. I'm simply finding out what works for me. Anyway, I'm still alive and working hard to become a successful discretionary trader.

[swansjr]

In my previous post I was talking about using Al Brooks setups with my Watts trading. Attached are two flash videos where I talk about two price action setups that are seen on my 445 tick chart.

Watts_Brooks_Setups_1.swf

Watts_Brooks_Setups_2.swf